THE Welsh Conservatives have insisted their membership is “fully engaged” with their leadership contest amid reports of tiny turnouts at their hustings meetings.

Both acting leader Paul Davies and leadership candidate Andrew RT Davies claimed that the race had captured the imagination of the party membership and beyond following reports turnouts had sometimes been in low double figures, with one hustings in Aberystwyth said to have attracted as few as 12.

Shadow Business Minister Andrew RT Davies is battling Shadow Finance Minister Nick Ramsay for the leadership of the Tory group in the Assembly, with the winner due to be announced on July 14.

Paul Davies said yesterday that, even outside the party, the contest was getting a “good response”.

He said: “People I talk to in my own constituency, non-party members and people I talk to throughout Wales are very, very interested in our leadership contest and they keep talking to me about it wherever I go.

“So, yes, there is a lot of interest out there.

“Whoever wins the leadership contest, they will have a role in communicating with Westminster as well as holding the Welsh Labour Government to account here. That will be the role of the Leader of the Opposition.”

While unsure of the turnout in Aberystwyth, Mr Davies said in general figures had been very good.

“I can’t give you a figure because I don’t have those figures in front of me, but I understand the hustings have been very well attended on the whole,” he said.

“It’s obvious as far as the Conservative Party is concerned, and from talking to members, they’re very interested in the leadership contest, they’re very interested in the direction the Conservative group should be taking here and, in addition to hustings, of course, the leadership contenders have been attending meet- and-greets, as we call them, up and down Wales.

“I think I’m right in saying that there were three or four meet-and-greets yesterday. So there’s a lot of interest, not only within the Conservative Party, but there’s a lot of interest, I think, outside the party.”

Andrew RT Davies also said that he did not recognise any “disjointment, shall we say, between the membership and the leadership race”.

He said: “We’ve gone up to 70-80, I think, in Cwmbran. I didn’t do a head count but the room was certainly full.

“The membership generally have had two mailshots sent out by the party and the party now are making that determination of who actually is going to be the leader.”